For serious mixologists and cocktail kings and queens, Cocktail Kingdom is the dream. From high end Japanese barware to exotic and unusual bitters, this New York store (which also has an online shop) offers an impressive selection of beautiful, functional, and high-quality bartending tools and supplies. The store also carries its own line of tools and ingredients, designed by founders Don Lee and Greg Boehm:

Not all bar tools are alike, and clearly every product in the store was carefully chosen. As Lee said in the Robb Report, "The problem with a lot of the tools you find today is that they’re either the kind that you get for $2 at some restaurant supply store on the Bowery, or they’re the fancy, silver antique kind that are really intended for show. And neither is really functional."

So the pair went into the cocktail business "with the rigor of scientists." How rigorous were they? According to Robb Report, after studying and testing hundreds of strainers that Boehm keeps in his office, they discovered that nine centimeters was the perfect strainer size. Good to know!

If you're ever in New York, it's definitely worth visiting the store in person just for their collection of rare and out-of-print mixology books, including first-edition copies of Jerry Thomas’s The Bartender’s Guide from 1862 (the first known cocktail recipe book) and signed copies of the Art Deco classic The Savoy Cocktail Book, which was published right after the end of Prohibition.